Reader reviews for The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow

The protagonist, Thomasina Bateman, comes to life thanks to excellent voice acting and backstory writing about her family, her past and what motivates her actions. She’s a bit Kate Walker a bit Lara Croft, and impersonating her while she arrives in a small village populated mainly by old chaps that are not exactly welcoming has been engaging (you can choose how to react to certain dialogues even if this will not impact the story).

The remaining roster is made of good characters as well, the old sweet lady, the funny kids, the many men of few words who are a bit mysterious, but each one with a very distinct characterization.

Gameplay is really well balanced: the game starts as a narrative experience with lots of dialogue to introduce the player to the village and its inhabitants, then switches to a more inventory puzzle oriented design, and ends with a Myst like experience in the final chapter.

Even if I’m not a fan of such a “siloed” experience (I like Syberia’s style the most, in which you have a good mix of gameplay for all of your adventure) I must admit every section has been well designed and is never too boring or too hard, despite some rare pacing issues which are unavoidable when you’re writing a serious game with a unique location and try to fill it with puzzles too.

Sure this is not a game for everyone, since the horror is much more cosmic then based on jump scares, it’s not a detective game, a bizarre game full of funny moments or one where you travel the world in search of exotic adventures.

But if Lovecraft is your cup of tea and you’re a fan of folk horror, this will definetely be a hit.

The graphics, atmosphere and set up are all pretty good and it’s easy to navigate. What really lets this down is the excessive dialogue. You will spend majority of this game just clicking on dialogue trees and listening to people rambling on and on about things that aren’t particularly relevant.

This seems to be quite a common failing in a number of point and click adventures that make the “player” feel like they’re reading a book rather than playing a game. I found myself itching to solve puzzles and progress ahead, growing more and more frustrated.

Another let down is that the horror elements are more funny than scary. I found myself chuckling at some of the more intense moments.

Overall, it wasn’t fun to play nor gripping enough to warrant the vast reams of dialog and exposition.